Improvement in railway-switches



C; H. KOGK'."

Railway-Switches.

Patented March 3.1874.

No.I48,220L

, L-EMULJ-UUUUU' i ATTEST: 9-miem INVENTOR:

CHRISTIAN H. KOGK, or sr- LOUIS, MISSOURI, Ass eNoR or TWO-THIRDS HISRIGHT TO JAMES EDWARDS AND JOHN v. HOGAN, on SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY-SWITCHES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 148,220, dated March 3,1874; application filed August 13, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GHRISTIAN H. Koox, of St. Louis, St. Louis county,Missouri, haveinvented a certain Improvement in AutomaticRailway-Switches, of which the following is a specification My inventionrelates to an apparatus for operating the switch by the weight of the10- comotive; and my invention consists in the following arrangement ofdevices for that purpose: The switch-rails are connected to theswitch-lever in the ordinary manner. Upon the switch or signal lever arehorizontal arms, to whose ends are attached chains that pass beneathpulleys, and extend horizontally to pulleys beneath the sides of thetrack, from which they extend upward to levers fulcrumed at the middleof the track, and lying transversely thereto. Upon these levers areblocks, which are acted upon by the flange 01. the locomotive-wheel, tochange the switch, by means of the chains acting on the switch-lever.The transverse lever in the single track leading to the switch from onedirection, has upon it a sliding frame, uponwhich the blocks are placedwhich are acted on by the wheel-flanges. This is to allow either blockto be brought in position to be acted on by the wheel-flange to turn heswitchrails to the desired side track.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improvement. Fig. 2 is a plan ofthe same, part of the track being removed in each case to bring thetransverse levers on which the wheel-flanges act directly into the limitof the drawing.

A B are the switch-rails of the single or main track, arranged in theordinary manner,

being rigidly secured at one end to the ties O, at a a, and detachedtogether at the moving end by tie-bars D. E F are the rails of themiddle or main track, directly in line with the track A B, when thelatter is in its normal situation. G H and I J are the rails of the sideor converging tracks. The switch-rails A B may be sprung over to eitherside by my improved mechanism, (operated by the locomotive-wheels,) tobring them in conjunction with the rails of either side track; and whenreleased from the action of the mechanism and the weight of the train,the rails A B, by their flexibility, spring back into line with the mainor middle track E F. K is the draw-bar of the switch, hinged at k to thebottom of the signal-lever L, fulcrumed at l to the stand M. N N arecross-arms, extending from the lever L and connectedby links 0 to chainsP P Q Q. These chains pass beneath pulleys R, extend respectively to thelevers S and T, lying transversely to and beneath the track, at a properdistance from the switch to enable the moving of the same in time forthe passage of the train. The horizontal parts of the chains P P Q Q mayconsist of simple metallic bars, as no flexibility is required in theseparts. The chains P P Q Q pass beneath pulleys U under the ends of thelevers S and T. Upon the lever S is a sliding frame, V, whose ends 12are upturned, so as to be acted on by adjustable projections at thesides of the cowcatcher of the locomotive, the projections beingadjusted in position to operate the sliding frame by the engineer, Thesalient part of the projection may consist of an anti-friction roller oftwelve inches, more or less, in diameter, to act easily on the upturnedends a. Upon the sliding frame V are blocks W, whose upper sides areconvex in the direction of the track. Either of the blocks W may, by thesliding of the frame V, be brought into position to be acted on by theflange of the locomotive-wheels, so as to depress that end of the lever,the blocks being placed at such a distance asunder that the flanges ofthe wheels, at opposite sides of the axle, may pass on the outer sidesof both of them when neither of the blocks is in contact with the rails,the lever S being inoperative when the train runs through on the maintrack, in which case the sliding frame V is in its central position, andthe blocks W out of the lines of the wheel-flanges. The chains Q Qextend from the arms N N, in a manner substantially similar to those PP, and are connected to the lever T, which has fixed blocks X, which areplaced close to the inner sides of the rails G J, so that the flange ofa wheel passing along either of those rails would depress that end ofthe lever and draw the switchrails A B into conjunction with that sidetrack of which the said rail forms a part.

ATE OFFICE The operation of my switch is as follows: The switch-railsmay be moved in any manner by the lever L, and when left free alwaysspring into line with the main track E F. Supposinga locomotive to beapproaching the switch or the track A B, and it is desired to continueon the main track, the projections on the cow-catcher are made to extendan equal distance on each side, so as to restore the sliding frame V toits central position, (if it is not there already,) so that both blocksW will be so far from the rails as to be inside the course of thewheels, so that neither block will be depressed by a wheel. The rails AB will then continue in conjunction with those E F, and the train runstraight onto the latter. If it is desired to run onto either of theside tracks, the projection on that side of the cow.- catcher is forcedoutward before reaching the lever S, which brings the projection incontact with the upturned end V upon that side, and the block \V on thatside is brought in contact with the rail, so that the wheel-flange willdepress it, and with it that end of the lever, and one chain, say P,being slacked up and the other, P, drawn up, the switch-rails A B arecarried over to the side track I J, through the means of the lever L anddraw-bar K. By reversing the position of the projections on thecow-catcher, and, consequently, bringing the other blockVV in line withthe wheel-flange, the train may be carried, by a reverse motion of theseparts, onto the other side track G H. ()n the other hand, when the trainis approaching the switch from the opposite direction, if it is runningon the main track E F, it runs straight through onto the track A B, butifit be approachin g on either of the side tracks, it turns theswitch-rails A B to that track in the follow ing manner: Supposing thetrain to be approaching on the track Gr H, the wheel flange of thelocomotive depresses the block v in con tact with the inner side of therail G, and the chain Q is slacked up, and that, Q, drawn up,

so as to throw over the upper ends of the lever L from the track, andforce the rails A B in the contrary direction. In case the train isapproaching on the track I J, the operation of the lever T, chains Q Q,lever L, and switchrails A 'B is reversed, and the switch-rails broughtin conjunction with the track I J. The end w of the blocks W upon theslider V are beveled on the outside and not on the top, so that awheel-flange impinging against that end of the block first will not acton the block to operate the switch, but will merely force the blocktransversely from the rail, out of the line of the flange. The weight L,by its momentum, insures the switch-rails AB being carried fully totheir proper position, in conjuction with the side tracks, when movingto either side. The weight L also tends, by its gravity and inertia, toprevent the rapid movement of the switch-rails A B from their positionin conjunction with a side track, when there may for a short period be110 wheels on the moving end of said rails, to hold them in place; butthe strength and flexibility of the rails will always be sufficient torestore the switch-rails A B to their normal position, in line withthose E F, when the train has passed I claim- 1. I11 combination withthe switch-rails A B, bar K, lever L, and stand M, the chains 1 I Q Q,levers S T, slider V, and blocks W, all substantially as set forth. I

2. The weight L, arranged and operating substantially as described, incombination with the lever L, chains P 1 Q Q, levers S T, sliding frameV, blocks WV, bar K, and switchrails A B, for the purposes specified.

In testimony of which invention I have hereunto set my hand.

CHRISTIAN II. KOGK.

Vitnesses:

SAMUEL KNIGHT, ltonnn'r BURNS.

